View full sizeKen Stevens/Muskegon ChronicleThe scene is marked in front of the home 2932 Fifth Street Monday morning, August 23, 2010 in Muskegon Heights where police found a 23-year-old man dead in a car from an apparent gunshot wound according to Muskegon Heights Police Chief Lynne Gill. Gill said he received a phone call around 3:30 a.m. from road patrol about the incident. He said police are treating it as a homicide investigation.

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS — Authorities are investigating another homicide in Muskegon Heights that happened in the same fashion, around the same time of day as Friday’s shooting that claimed the life of a high school student.

Police from several jurisdictions Monday afternoon helped control the large crowd that gathered on Summit from Seaway Drive east to Peck Street. At one point, police recovery of a stolen car at Summit and Peck Street caused the crowd to run toward police vehicles, though the incident had nothing to do with the homicide investigation, Muskegon Heights Detective Steve White confirmed.

Chronicle/Kendra Stanley-MillsA crowd gathers as state police personnel work at the residence at 51 W. Summit in Muskegon Heights Monday afternoon in possible connection with a recent homicide in the area.

Some in the crowd watching the activity said they were familiar with Lawrence.

“He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said one woman who declined to be identified. She described Lawrence as “not a bad little boy at all.”

The woman said the violence has prompted people to begin moving from the area in fear.

“It’s going to look like a desert out here because people are moving,” she said.

Another man watching the afternoon commotion from his porch summed up the feelings of many: “When’s it going to stop?”

Early Monday morning, a woman who lives in a home next to 2932 Fifth said she had no idea what happened that morning and said she did not know Lawrence.

“This is a shocker,” said Ruby Ross, 2928 Fifth, who lives next door. “It’s so close to my house, and I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t even know it happened.”

Ross said police knocked on her door about 4:30 a.m. to ask her about the incident, but she was unable to provide them with any information.

Monday morning’s shooting occurred three days after Jaquan Norris, 16, of Muskegon, was shot dead in his vehicle at 3:30 a.m. Friday.

Lynne Gill, Muskegon Heights police chief.

HOW TO HELP

Muskegon Heights Police Chief Lynne Gill is asking anyone with information about the homicides that occurred Friday and Monday to call Silent Observer at 722-7463 or Muskegon Heights Police at 733-8900.

Gill said authorities have a “person of interest” in connection with Norris’ slaying, but declined to say more.

Authorities believe Norris, who was going to be a Muskegon High School senior, was driving a black Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle in the 3100 block of Eighth Street when he was shot.

The vehicle drove into a fence and was stopped by a tree next to 3118 Eighth, possibly after Norris was shot. Neighbors said as many as four shots were fired.

It was not immediately clear whether the Friday and Monday shootings were connected, Gill said.

Meanwhile, Muskegon Police responded to a shooting that occurred an hour before Lawrence was killed.

In that incident, a 20-year-old Muskegon Heights man was shot in the arm while walking in the 1200 block of Terrace Street around 2:30 a.m., said Muskegon Police Lt. Leah Fenwick.

The victim told police he had been in an argument with his girlfriend previously at his home and was walking to “cool off” when he was struck by a “stray bullet,” Fenwick said.

The bullet struck his left arm that was already in a cast from a previous injury, police said.

The victim then flagged down a woman driving in the area and she took him to a local hospital, police said. He has since been treated and released, according to a press release from Muskegon Police.

In the meantime, the victim has provided police with no additional information, Fenwick said.

Authorities were notified of the shooting by hospital officials around 5 a.m.

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The press release also indicated that “the victim stated he did not see anyone on foot or in a vehicle in the area at the time” and “no other reports of shots being fired in that area were called in to police during the time this shooting is to have occurred.”

It was not clear whether Muskegon’s incident had any connection to the Muskegon Heights slayings, police said.

Meanwhile, the issue of the shootings was a topic of conversation Monday night during the Muskegon Heights City Council meeting.

Mayor Darrell Paige and Councilwoman Dorothy Scott talked about the need for the overall Muskegon community to help stop the problems.

“We do need help,” Paige said, about the large-scale issues of homicides, gangs and drugs that become problems in communities. “It’s going to take the whole community to solve the problem.”

“It’s going to take everybody’s help,” Scott said. “It’s going to take parents. It’s going to take neighbors. It’s going to take more than the police.”

Scott, pointing out that the recent surge of shootings in the area is extending to multiple municipalities, took issue with the reputation that has extended to Muskegon Heights.

“My concern is these people are not from our city,” Scott said. “It’s making our city look bad, coming across the invisible tracks from Muskegon.”

Paige said that makes the intergovernmental task force being pursued by area law enforcement even more important.

A MONTH OF VIOLENCE

Reported street shootings, and one severe beating, in the Muskegon area in the last month:

• Incident: 25-year-old Timothy Dewayne Thomas Jr. of Muskegon Heights fatally shot in the neck around 2:10 a.m. July 24 during a melee in the 700 block of West Broadway Avenue, Norton Shores.

• Status: No arrests; investigation ongoing.

• Incident: Roosevelt Gamble Jr., 23, of Muskegon severely beaten during the same July 24 melee, suffering critical head injuries.

• Status: Arrest warrants issued for four men on charges of assault with intent to do great bodily harm. Two arrested so far: Jimmie Raynard Moore, 23, of Norton Shores and Jariko Shamon Burks, 29, of Muskegon.

• Incident: Unnamed man shot in leg by stray bullet during the same July 24 melee. He was treated and released from a local hospital.

• Status: Unknown

• Incident: 15-year-old boy shot in arm and abdomen around 6 p.m. July 24 near the intersection of Summit Avenue and Glendale Street, Muskegon Heights.